While Elise, Moby, and Eddie do a fine job of representing the player on screen in EA's snowboarding franchise, the real stars of the show are the courses themselves. Art director Dave Taylor walks us through the process of creating these monumental playgrounds for the new SSX.

The next SSX game takes players around the world to do battle with some of the most unforgiving terrain the series' exaggerated take on nature has to offer. Just as SSX mainstay Elise has received a more natural, sensible redesign, the courses in the game are also a little more down-to-earth, eschewing the over-the-top man-made courses of previous snowboarding titles for obstacles created by events that, while implausible, definitely fall into the realm of possibility.